In a day worthy of the great Spaniard who gave his name to the trophy Paul McGinley's team, which had things all but decided going into Sunday's singles pairings having racked up an impressive 11.5 – 6.5 lead, only won after Jean van de Velde's charges shocked them with their final-day resurgence.

Europe won the first five pairings of the day, with Denmark's Thomas Bjorn and Anders Hansen beating Lee Westwood and Simon Dyson respectively before Francesco Molinari, Alexander Noren and Miguel Angel Jimenez comprehensively dispatched Jamie Donaldson, Robert Rock and Darren Clarke.

Great Britain and Ireland were undoubtedly on the ropes but David Horsey held his nerve to halve his match against Belgium's Nicolas Colsaerts and halt the continental charge, and when Scott Jamieson beat Pablo Larrazabal on the 18th, momentum swung their way decisively.

Matchplay specialist Ian Poulter saw off Italian starlet Matteo Manassero, sinking a critical birdie putt, again on the 18th, and retaining the trophy for the holders, who have now won it on six of the seven occasions it has been contested.

Mark Foster and Raphael Jacquelin's match again made it up the 18th fairway with the Europeans in the hunt for a tie, but Foster holed out to win the rubber and get Great Britain and Ireland past the 14.5 points needed to claim victory outright. Ross Fisher and Peter Hanson halved the final match of the tournament.

While van de Velde's tactics of loading his top order in the hope of claiming some early points certainly panned out, McGinley was sure that the quality of his players would always shine through.

He said:

"As much as things went against me, winning only half a point out of the first six matches and losing the first five, I still was confident that, with only three points to win, we had enough guys in form coming at the end.

"I get a huge sense of satisfaction seeing someone like Scott or David Horsey coming through the way they did. Mark Foster as well, it was pivotal that his game stayed one-up, that it stayed in the red or it stayed in the green and it never got into the blue, and he did that."

For Foster, being able to hole the winning putt brought a mix of elation and relief.

"It feels amazing and I'm pleased for the boys," said the Worksop native who recently finished second at the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles.

"It would have hurt a lot if we hadn't won today and I'm glad to pull through."